EARLIER this month the Vale Volunteer Bureau held its tenth annual awards event, which recognises local volunteers in the Vale.

This year the event was hosted by the Vale of Glamorgan Mayor; Cllr Howard Hamilton at Cardiff and Vale College, Glamorgan Suite.

The volunteers were nominated for their initiative, dedication or their personal qualities.

This year Max Williams from Penarth Youth Project was the overall winner for the young person’s category.

The event also celebrated young people aged between 14 and 25 years who were awarded their Millennium Volunteer certificates for the amount of hours they have contributed to volunteering.

Included as part of the event was the presentation to the Mayor of a 'cheque' for £46,470,000. This is an increase of just over £11.5 million in the previous year.

This cheque represents the monetary value of volunteering shown in monetary terms and shows just how much volunteering is worth to the Vale of Glamorgan.

At the event we saw the Launch of Dish Out Dosh a youth led grant which is available for youth projects across the vale.

Applications packs are available from Vale Volunteer Bureau until the closing date, September 22, 2014.

During the event a film was released showing Morgan Rogers' digital story on how his volunteering changed his life.

Clare Humphreys the youth volunteering advisor said: “It’s been brilliant getting to make a series of films for young people, Morgan’s story is inspiring and will definitely challenge the stereo type of young people and volunteering”.

The director of the Vale Volunteer Bureau Alison Steere said: "Today’s event recognised volunteer’s achievements. Volunteers from all over the Vale were involved in everything from encouraging children to save money to volunteering on a write with us programme for cancer patients and survivors. As Director of the Vale Volunteer Bureau I feel extremely privileged to have met these volunteers and to hear some of their fascinating stories of their achievements and how they have benefited their local communities’.